Letter 896: Libanius apologizes for a long silence and asks about Aristaenetus's health.

For many who have been wronged, it is enough just to hear the wrongdoers admit it. So, let it be enough for you when I say the same regarding my delay in writing - a delay of four months or more. I could have invented plausible excuses, but I didn't think it right to defend myself that way to a man who is a relative, a gentleman, a companion, and a friend. Let the truth be told: I made a mistake. However, I have never stopped asking the gods for some improvement in your health. Polybius also makes the same request of them; he is a good man who delights in books, loves literature, and lives with a man who produces it. Tell that 'craftsman' [Leontius] to keep making more 'statues' [speeches] and adding to the ones he has already shown, so that while the one [life/time] flows away, we may be made famous through Leontius, along with Leontius himself.